So here's the deal. I'm reading this book called knowing God by J I Packer. At the end of one of the chapters he closes with this statement.

"The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christian snob. For the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor - spending and being spent - to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care and concern, to do good to others - and not just their own friends - in whatever way there seems need."

So how will you spend Christmas this year?

I feel as believers if we really wanted to have a Christmas service we would hang a sign on the front door of our church saying, "sorry, we are not meeting here tonight because we are out serving the poor and hungry."

I think someone may have blogged about this a while back but here are my top six favorite shows I have seen along with the top six I would hope to someday get to experience.

in no particular order...

best shows I've seen as of late:
1. Broken Social Scene w/Feist @ Gypsy Ballroom, Dallas, Tx
2. Arcade Fire @ Austin City Limits, Austin, Tx
3. Death Cab for Cutie @ Trees, Dallas, Tx (i had my elbows on the stage for this one)
4. Mutemath @ Gypsy Tea Room, Dallas, Tx
5. David Crowder Band w/Shawn McDonald and Robbie Seay Band @ The Door, Dallas, Tx
6. Switchfoot @ Stubbs, Austin, Tx

Shows i would like to see:

1. Switchfoot acoustic show @ Canes, San Diego, Ca
2. U2 @ ANYWHERE!
3. Ethan Durelle on the rooftop of Gachet Coffee Lounge, Dallas, Tx
4. I wouldn't mind stealing some jazz in Europe
5. If Sigur Ros did a Christmas show I think I'd probably go.
6. Arcade Fire in a smaller venue

I know I'm probably missing some shows but I'll blog about them later.

I had a professor once make the statement that all truth is God’s truth. I've never really thought about that before. I like it. on brent’s student ministry blog he posted a quote from rob bell’s new book about being careful to label things “Christian” because we can blindly consume things that we think might be safe and acceptable without really testing it. I think the statement that all truth is God’s truth really applies here. What i mean is that often times there are things we come across in this world that we as the church would label secular but the reality is that it may speak more of God's truth than anything we might assume to be "Christian". I love knowing that God is not limited to what we find at mardels or family christian book store.